You can sue a car manufacturer for an airbag not deploying, and the claim runs under product liability law. Winning it turns on three things: proving the crash was one where deployment was expected, proving a defect in the airbag system caused the failure, and proving that failure caused injuries you would not otherwise have suffered. The manufacturer’s first and strongest response will almost always be that the collision simply did not meet the deployment threshold, so that question decides more of these cases than any other.
When Airbags Are Actually Supposed to Deploy
Airbags are not designed to fire in every crash. Frontal airbags activate in moderate-to-severe frontal or near-frontal impacts, which NHTSA describes as the equivalent of hitting a solid, fixed barrier at 8 to 14 mph or higher. Against a parked car of similar size, that works out to roughly 16 to 28 mph or faster.1National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Vehicle Air Bags and Injury Prevention
Side-impact airbags run on different thresholds. They can deploy in impacts as slow as 8 mph when a narrow object like a pole is involved, and around 18 mph in broader vehicle-to-vehicle side hits. Side airbags aren’t mandated by name, but almost every new vehicle has them because they’re the practical way to meet federal side-impact protection rules.2Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Airbags
Angle matters as much as speed. Federal crash testing under FMVSS 208 evaluates frontal impacts at angles up to 30 degrees from head-on.3eCFR. 49 CFR 571.208 – Standard No. 208 Occupant Crash Protection An oblique or glancing hit at 35 mph may not generate the same sensor readings as a straight frontal collision at 20. This is the single most common legitimate reason airbags don’t deploy, and it is the first thing a manufacturer’s defense will argue.
What You Have to Prove
Every airbag failure case comes down to three elements. Miss any one and the case collapses.
The System Was Defective
You have to show the airbag failed to perform the way a reasonable person would expect in a foreseeable crash. If the collision was a moderate-to-severe frontal impact and nothing fired, an automotive engineer can examine the module, sensors, and wiring to identify whether a hardware failure, software error, or design flaw stopped deployment. A 5 mph fender bender won’t support the claim, because the airbag wasn’t supposed to go off anyway.
The Defect Caused Your Injuries
This is where most cases get hard. It is not enough that the airbag didn’t deploy. You have to prove specific injuries resulted from that failure. A facial fracture from striking the steering wheel needs medical testimony tying it to the absence of a cushioning airbag. If your injuries would have been the same even with deployment because the crash forces were that extreme, causation weakens.
You Suffered Real Damages
Documented losses drive the value of the case. Economic damages include medical bills, rehabilitation, lost wages, and reduced future earning capacity. Non-economic damages cover pain, emotional distress, and diminished quality of life. Courts generally will not entertain a suit where the airbag didn’t fire but you walked away uninjured.
Which Legal Theory Fits Your Facts
Most states recognize three product liability theories, and your attorney will pick whichever the facts support.
A manufacturing defect is a flaw specific to your vehicle: faulty wiring in the airbag module, a sensor installed wrong on the assembly line, a degraded chemical propellant. The rest of the product line may be fine. Your unit came out wrong.
A design defect is a problem built into the whole product line. Sensors calibrated too conservatively, an inflator using materials prone to failure. The Takata recall is the textbook example: roughly 67 million Takata inflators were recalled after a propellant broke down over time in heat and humidity, causing inflators to rupture and spray metal fragments. That defect killed at least 28 people and injured more than 400 in the United States.4National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Takata Air Bag Recall Spotlight
A failure to warn claim rests on the manufacturer not adequately explaining the system’s limitations or required maintenance. It comes up less often in non-deployment cases than the other two, but it can bolster a case that already has a design or manufacturing angle.
Evidence You Have to Protect Right Now
These cases are decided on physical evidence and expert analysis. The steps you take in the first days after the crash often determine whether a case is winnable at all.
Do Not Let the Vehicle Be Repaired or Scrapped
The vehicle is your most important piece of evidence. Insurance companies routinely total damaged cars and send them to salvage yards to be crushed, which destroys the exact components your experts need to inspect. An attorney can send a preservation letter to the insurer, tow yard, and salvage company putting them on notice that the vehicle and its components must be kept intact. If they destroy evidence after receiving that notice, courts can impose sanctions, including instructing the jury to assume the destroyed evidence would have helped you.
The Event Data Recorder
Nearly all modern vehicles carry an Event Data Recorder that captures speed, brake application, throttle position, seatbelt status, and impact forces in the seconds around a crash. That data can confirm whether the collision met the deployment threshold. Under the Driver Privacy Act of 2015, EDR data belongs to the vehicle’s owner or lessee and cannot be retrieved without consent or a court order. Manufacturers must ensure commercially available tools can access EDR data within 90 days of the vehicle’s first sale.5Federal Register. Event Data Recorders A forensic download is usually one of the first things your attorney arranges.
Expert Witnesses
You will need them. An accident reconstructionist works from the scene, vehicle damage, and EDR data to establish crash dynamics. An automotive engineer inspects the airbag module and sensors to pinpoint the failure. Expect forensic inspection and testimony to run $200 to $450 per hour, and more for trial appearances. This is a major cost driver, though contingency attorneys typically advance the money.
Supporting Documentation
Gather the police report, photographs of the scene and vehicle damage from every angle, complete medical records and bills, and proof of lost income. If anyone noticed the airbag warning light before the crash, note it. Thorough documentation makes it harder for the manufacturer to construct an alternative story later.
Who Can Be Sued Besides the Automaker
The vehicle manufacturer is the obvious defendant, but product liability law reaches every company in the chain that brought the product to you. The airbag module itself is often built by a separate supplier such as Autoliv, ZF, or historically Takata, and that supplier can be named. The sensor manufacturer may be another company entirely.
Other parties may share responsibility depending on facts. A dealership that performed poor repair work on the airbag system, or sold a used vehicle without disclosing known airbag problems, can be liable. An independent mechanic who improperly serviced safety systems or installed a counterfeit airbag part is another possible defendant. Identifying the right parties early matters, because the failure may trace back to a component supplier rather than to the badge on the hood.
Defenses You Should Expect
Manufacturers and their suppliers have dedicated litigation teams and deep experience fighting these claims. A few defenses come up in nearly every case.
The crash didn’t meet the deployment threshold. The most common defense, and often the most effective. The manufacturer’s engineers will read the same EDR data your experts read and reach opposite conclusions about severity and angle. The case often turns on whose expert the jury trusts.
Compliance with federal safety standards. Manufacturers sometimes argue that meeting FMVSS 208 should insulate them. Federal law rejects that: compliance with a federal motor vehicle safety standard does not exempt anyone from liability at common law.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 U.S. Code 30103 – Relationship to Other Laws Passing federal crash tests is the floor, not a shield. The Supreme Court has found in narrow circumstances that a specific state tort claim can be preempted where it would directly conflict with a significant federal regulatory objective, so the argument isn’t entirely without teeth depending on your exact claim.
Seatbelt non-use. If you weren’t belted in, expect it to be used against you. Roughly a third of states allow a seatbelt defense that reduces damages by the portion of injury attributable to not buckling up. The rest either prohibit the defense or limit it. Even where it isn’t formally recognized, a jury that hears you weren’t belted may be less sympathetic.
Your own negligence. Speeding, distracted driving, or driving impaired won’t kill a product liability claim in most states, but under comparative fault rules a jury can reduce damages by the percentage of fault it assigns you. In a handful of states, being more than 50% at fault bars recovery entirely.
Deadlines That Can End the Case Before It Starts
Every state imposes a statute of limitations on product liability claims. The typical deadline runs two years from the date of injury, though it ranges from one to four years depending on the state. Miss it and the case is almost always dead regardless of the evidence.
Some states apply a discovery rule that starts the clock when you discovered or reasonably should have discovered the injury, which matters when an airbag-related injury isn’t immediately obvious.
Separately, about 19 states impose a statute of repose, an absolute cutoff running from the date the product was manufactured or first sold, regardless of when the injury happens. Those periods typically run 6 to 15 years. If you are driving a 12-year-old vehicle in a state with a 10-year repose period, your claim can be time-barred even if the defect is obvious and the crash was yesterday. This is one of the first things an attorney checks.
Fees, Costs, and Punitive Damages
Most product liability attorneys take airbag cases on contingency. You pay nothing upfront, and the attorney takes a percentage of any recovery, typically 33% to 40%, negotiated before you sign. If you lose, you usually owe no attorney fees, but confirm that in writing.
Litigation expenses are the hidden cost. Experts, accident reconstruction, EDR data extraction, engineering analysis, filing fees, and depositions add up fast. Filing fees alone range from about $50 to over $400 depending on the court. Expert witnesses commonly bill $200 to $450 per hour. In a contested case against a major manufacturer, total costs can easily reach tens of thousands of dollars. Most contingency attorneys advance these expenses and deduct them from the recovery, but some contracts require you to reimburse costs even if you lose. Read the fee agreement carefully.
Punitive damages are possible in cases involving especially egregious conduct, but the bar is high. Most states require clear and convincing evidence that the manufacturer acted with conscious disregard for consumer safety, meaning it knew about the dangerous condition and chose not to fix it. Internal documents showing a calculated decision that lawsuits were cheaper than a recall are the kind of proof that supports punitive damages. An isolated failure with no evidence of a known systemic problem generally does not.
Check the Recall Database First
Before filing anything, run your VIN through NHTSA’s recall lookup tool at nhtsa.gov/recalls.7National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Check for Recalls An open recall for a known airbag defect strengthens your case considerably because the manufacturer has already acknowledged the problem. But if you received recall notices and ignored them, expect the manufacturer to argue you contributed to your own injury by not getting the free repair. Either way, both sides will look at recall status closely, so you may as well look first.